Another loss and the boo birds are back in full force. “Let Al Golden go to Penn State. Who needs him?”
“5-5 at this point of the season? Should’ve just kept Randy Shannon!”
Miami fell 23-19 at Florida State on Saturday, again in heartbreaking fashion. Similar to losses against Kansas State, Virginia Tech and Virginia, the Canes got off to a slow start and were in another halftime hole, down 17-7.
Midway through the fourth quarter the deficit was up to 23-7 before Miami began mounting a comeback, moving the ball offensively while continuing to shut down the Florida State offense. A two-point conversion was dropped, an extra point attempt muffed and and onside kick though well executed, not recovered.
The Canes wound up falling by four, in a game where it gave up one offensive touchdown, allowed a few too many blunders and out-gained the Noles, 383 total yards to 259.
Miami also completely shut down Florida State’s ground game, holding their rival to 63 rushing yards — which seemed unfathomable after Kansas State churned out 265 on the ground and Virginia Tech rolled for 236 earlier in the year.
For the record, nobody is happy with 5-5. Not the casual fan, not the diehard, not the biggest Golden supporter and not the most delusional message board lunatic, unhappy with whoever is in charge and oft clamoring for the return of Jimmy Johnson. Losing is not something this fan base processes well.
Miami is a proud program with a tremendous legacy in the 80s, 90s and early 00s. As the losses continue to rack up, the more out there U fans are seeming to get as a whole.
Between 2000 and 2003 the Canes hit for the BCS cycle, going Sugar, Rose, Fiesta and Orange, while posting a 46-4 record.
By late October of 2011, Miami had already earned its fourth off an in-progress season.
While fans are united regarding their disdain for losing, opinions regarding the current state of the program vary, as does the ability to logically process “the process” put in place by today’s coaching staff.
A lot of fans are speaking their mind regarding “moral victories” not being the acceptable as the losses pile up, which is understandable. There’s never any true solace to be taken from failure, despite a logical and valid explanation.
That said, anyone of the mindset that Miami may as well have kept Shannon at the helm if Golden was going to lose this many games year one, that sentiment is way off.
As much as we’ve all tried to put 2007 out of our minds, let’s take a walk down nightmare lane regarding Coach Shannon’s first season in comparison to how Golden’s Canes are playing year one.
After a season-opening home win against Marshall, Miami road-tripped it to Oklahoma and was decimated, 51-13. The Sooners took a 21-10 halftime lead, but blew the doors off the second half, outscoring the Canes, 30-3. This was a precursor of things to come in the Shannon era; an inability to make halftime adjustments — which hasn’t been the case for Golden’s squad, which has shown tremendous second half fight when trailing early.
After running through Florida International, Texas A&M and Duke, Miami fell at North Carolina, trailing 27-0 at the half and coming apart due to turnovers. A week later, a 17-14 home loss to Georgia Tech, where the Canes held a 7-0 halftime lead but again were out-coached at intermission.
Yellow Jackets running back Tashard Choice finished the day with 204 yards on the ground — 151 coming in the second half as Georgia Tech coaches adjusted and wore Miami down.
Up next, a road trip to Tallahassee ended in success as Kirby Freeman threw a late miracle touchdown. The go-ahead score and late fumble recovery both occurred in the final two minutes as Miami beat an eventual 7-6 Florida State squad.
From there, a vile ending to Shannon’s inaugural season with four straight losses.
Insult to injury in a 19-16 OT loss to a bad NC State came in the form of Freeman going 1-of-14 passing on the day. A week later, the Orange Bowl finale and a 48-0 loss to Virginia, where Miami gave up 418 yards, turned it over five times and displayed absolutely zero heart.
Back-to-back road losses closed out the season — 44-14 at Virginia Tech and 28-14 at Boston College. The Canes wrapped the year 5-7 with truly zero positives until a top-ranked recruiting class was hauled in the following February; this year’s seniors, who have grossly underachieved as a whole under Shannon and staff.
Shannon’s Canes went 7-6 the following season with a few bright spots, but no noticable steps forward. After starting out 2-3, Miami tore off a five-game win streak – including a Thursday night win over Virginia Tech – only to lose the next three in embarrassing fashion.
The Canes gave up a record-high 518 yards at Georgia Tech, made NC State’s Russell Wilson look like a Heisman candidate and were out-muscled in a mid-tier bowl game by a middle-of-the-road Pac-10 team in Cal.
Year three looked to be a bright spot with early wins over Florida State, Georgia Tech and Oklahoma and with the ACC finally looking within reach, an overtime loss to Clemson and turnover-marred loss at North Carolina occurred over a four-week span and the Canes were done. Wisconsin was the bowl foe and for the second straight post-season, Shannon’s Canes looked soft, lost and out-coached.
The 2010 season proved to be the beginning of the end as Miami took a giant leap backwards, instead of building on the previous 9-4 campaign. The heralded class of 2008 were now juniors, yet were still playing like freshmen.
An early October beat down courtesy of Florida State was the final straw, with Miami falling 45-17 at home in front of a packed house, again mailing it in, giving up and showing no fight. Down 24-7 at the half, the Canes were outscored 21-10 in the final two periods, giving up an insult-to-injury ninety-yard run in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
7-3 with three remaining, a 31-17 loss to Virginia Tech occurred. UM was(up early, tied going into the fourth and eventually ran out of steam, getting outscored 14-0 in the final fifteen minutes. Next, a 23-20 OT loss to South Florida followed by a 33-17 whooping in the Sun Bowl courtesy of Notre Dame, who led 30-3 entering the fourth.
Harris was a putrid 4-of-7 for 37 yards with three interceptions (do the math) and all but left for dead as 2011 got underway.
While Shannon squandered his Miami opportunity, Golden was building a resume in the northeast. Temple was 3-31 upon Golden’s arrival and went 1-11 year one, in 2006.
From there, 4-8 year two, 5-7 year three and by year four, a turnaround was underway. Golden’s Owls went 9-4 and reached the program’s first bowl since 1979 and third bowl in school’s history.
Temple, thrown out of the Big East in 2004 for “non-competitiveness”, was college football’s true doormat. Golden pundits will spout off an 0-15 stat regarding his run against MAC teams with a winning record, though the majority came during those first three years when Golden’s Owls went 10-26.
During that final 17-8 run, Golden’s squad improved annually. His final season Temple upset Big East champ and eventual Fiesta Bowl participant UConn, 30-16. The previous season his squad gave UCLA all it could handle in the post-season, again, his squad being Temple – a program not facing extinction for wrong doing, but for sucking and doing little right.
The Owls were ‘The Bad News Bears’ of college football, sans Lupus. A 9-4 season in Philly is as impressive as a national championship in Coral Gables.
What some Miami fans refuse to see in Golden, other programs have taken notice. UCLA came calling in late 2007, though Golden withdrew his name for consideration. Same situation in 2009 at Cincinnati when Brian Kelly left for Notre Dame. Golden was also mentioned for the Tennessee job when Lane Kiffin bolted for Southern Cal.
When Miami offered, Golden saw opportunity and came running.
A December 2010 press conference got fans riled up, as did an off-season U Tough workout, and a step forward public relations-wise as Golden tour South Florida in effort to build the brand.
On the recruiting front, Golden saved the 2011 class from being an utter disaster, as Shannon only had six verbal commitments a year ago at this time and earned rave reviews from local high school coaches who praised his mending of fences, after Shannon and staff spent four years burning bridges.
But as the losses have piled up, the support has dwindled. A fast food sports culture that demands immediate results, has fans refusing to look at anything besides the wins and losses column.
Defend the effort and you’re a bleeding heart. Quote stats and you’ll be reminded that only one stat matters at day’s end. Admit that you believe in “the process” and you may as well be knocking on someone’s door midweek, asking if they’ve heard the good news.
Thankfully those who get it keep individuals from feeling alone on an island with the belief that things have to get better before they get worse.
Someone wrote into the site earlier and gave a logical example that’s been given before, but for the sake of this piece, I’ll paraphrase.
Imagine you were hired to take over a business that’s been in the red for seven years and the shareholders expect a miraculous turnaround within year one.
Then imagine that in your effort to resurrect the fledgling company, you aren’t allowed to fire any of the employees who have been under-performing. The staff that spent the past several years failing is who you’re left with as you attempt to turn things around — all those years of an upside down culture embedded into their corporate DNA.
Of those retained, some of your best employees and salespeople would have to spend a the equivalent of a sales quarter in office on paid suspension for some type of infraction, forcing you to send you B Team into the field to generate revenue during your first few weeks on the job.
Over the next four years you’d eventually be able to release a handful of those employees while trying to lure new ones on board, while unable to lure some top prospects who remain unsure that you’ll be able to turn the company around and want to see proof before signing on.
You’re faced with the challenge of rebuilding, knowing that the employees who helped create the mess would be with you anywhere from one to four more years. Under those circumstances, where should expectations be set year one?
Furthermore, what if any milestone achieved or step forward taken was met with shareholders who constantly brought it back to the bottom line, expecting seven years of being in the red to be solved overnight?
Welcome to the job Coach Golden faces on a daily basis. True, he’s well compensated, but that doesn’t change the circumstances of what he’s taken on.
Logically this was never a one-year rebuild and anyone who expected to be a top ten team this season should have their head examined.
Look across the college football landscape. Check out some top programs and what it took to get from the bottom back to the top.
Bob Stoops left his defensive coordinator perch at the Florida to assume head coaching duties in Oklahoma in 1999. The Sooners were a 5-6 squad in 1998 and year one Stoops went 7-5 in Norman. A year later, undefeated and a national championship. Since then, no more rings, but a slew of title games and a well-oiled machine for a decade now.
Pete Carroll took over a Southern Cal program that went 5-7 in 2000. His first year out the gate, 6-6. From there the ascension began. 11-2 and in the BCS by year three and from there, a 34-0 run, three straight title games and one-and-a-half championships.
Alabama was a 6-7 squad in 2006 before luring Nick Saban away from the Miami Dolphins. Saban won a national title at LSU in 2003 and made some strides at Michigan State in the nineties. Still, the Crimson Tide was a different monster and taming the SEC would be a feat.
Year one Saban went 7-6. Year two, 12-2, winners of the SEC West and Sugar Bowl bound. Year three, undefeated and national champions.
Last year, 10-3 and this year, sitting at 9-1 and still in the title hunt. Saban has made old new again at Alabama. Well-developed talent. Fundamentals in tact. Solid defense. Punishing ground game. Effective, mistake-free passing game.
Comparing Golden to Stoops, Carroll or Saban is absolute sacrilege ten games into his career at Miami, but like all three aforementioned coaches, he shouldn’t be judged on his first year, coaching the former guy’s team.
Some folks in Norman, Los Angeles and Tuscaloosa were all ready to run their first-year guys out of town after sub par year ones. Thankfully those athletic directors and people in power know that change takes time and by trusting their hires, all were rewarded handsomely.
As a fan, there’s nothing wrong with being frustrated sitting at 5-5. That’s not Miami football and will never be acceptable.
That said, Golden took over a team 35-30 since, and including, the 2005 Peach Bowl loss to LSU, which is an average of 7-6 a year for the past five seasons.
The players on this 2011 squad are not accustomed to winning, unfortunately. For years they received sub par coaching, are under developed and are poorly conditioned. For years, halftime deficits were met with a poor game plan and second half execution, making for embarrassing losses.
When you lose that often, it’s inevitable, the culture of losing takes over. When you’re given bad advice and are receive years of unsatisfactory teaching, that is what you’re bringing to the field on game day.
Even during this down cycle, Miami sent talent to the NFL. Guys like Sam Shields were lost in the shuffle during Shannon’s reign at UM, back and forth between offense and defense, living in the doghouse and underutilized.
From there, a shot at Green Bay where he was taught properly, earned a starting job and eventually became a Super Bowl champion.
This past spring Miami had a draft-high eight players taken off a team that underachieved its way to 7-6. Talent that wasn’t developed at ‘The U’ was scouted out, coached up and is making an impact in the NFL this season.
How was a six-loss team supposed to be better when the defense lost veterans and there weren’t capable back ups or enough team depth in place to fill those holes left by Allen Bailey, Brandon Harris, Ryan Hill, Colin McCarthy and DeMarcus Van Dyke?
Hell, give Golden back a few of those corners and safeties and 5-5 is arguably 9-1 sitting here today. Harris alone, who had one remaining year of eligibility, could’ve easily meant a two- or three-game swing.
Throwing Golden and staff under the bus is a convenient scapegoat to a larger, more inconvenient reality.
Miami’s woes didn’t take place overnight and they sure as hell aren’t going to be fixed that quickly, either. Those refusing to accept that are going to go mad as “the process” continues. Acceptance, understanding and patience are the only true solution. – C.B.
The reason most Miami fans get bashed so often is because it takes a bit of brain power to step aside from bite-sized information like FB and twitter feeds to process and rationalize the fortune we have with this coach. In every one of our losses this year, I’ve seen a team with fight and determination. So happy golden’s first move was that promise Among players to never look as sorry as we did against ND in sun bowl or vs USF, FSU or Virginia. What fans saw vs Virginia in 2010 was total desperation and disbelief of players who knew they were more talented and gifted, scrambling unprepared fighting to not lose, but ultimately succeeding in underachieving via acclimating to losing. Without a plan, u plan to fail and golden is the man with a plan for our canes FB
I agree. The kids don’t give up. I was at the FSU game this week and we were down at halftime and they were still out playing them. Even I didn’t give up. Last year we were toast if we weren’t up big at half. Sometimes I couldn’t even watch the second half. This year, I turned to the lady sitting next to me and said “weve got them right where we want them.” I know soon we will be leading at half because if you look closely and listen to the tone of the players voices after the games you can hear a change. Last year it was scripted jargon coming from their mouths. This year you can hear the anger that they have worked so hard and they expect a different outcome. If they could only quit making the dumb mistakes. Coach Golden’s process is working and before you know it all those immediate gratification seekers will be saying “I knew Al would turn it around.”
See you in Tampa. Go Canes!
Amen. Golden seems to have the right DNA to bring us back to a level of success we haven’t seen recently. He needs time to recruit HIS players and weed out the Shannon era underachievers. Let’s just hope he sticks around through the impending NCAA mess. The naysayers can take a hike.
We can compare Golden to Shannon all we want, but its like comparing apples to oranges as far as that first year is concerned. I state again that Shannon didn’t inherit a group of seniors like the Golden did. Shannon lost players to the draft but he lost players like (MerriWeather, Beason, and Olsen to the 1st round). Shannon had no where near the skill level as Golden inherited. Jecory is playing All ACC type football, in 2007 Freeman & Wright were playing merry-go-round at the qb position.
As far as the off the field issues, Shannon also had to deal with change the culture as did Golden. Golden is preaching “Process”, Shannon was preaching “No Guns and Classroom Attendance”. Golden faces the NCAA with the NevinGate scandal, Shannon dealt with the FIU brawl and the “No name” jersey reform. Both coaches had to deal with many things that come with the territory of being at the U.
But i wanna focus on the losses that you keep bringing up. Yes Mia loss to OK (so did a #1 Missouri team, OK did go to a BCS bowl that year), That entire season was mared by the fact that Mia didn’t settle on a quarterback and the OC Patrick Nix sucked ass at play calling. But I will say the Cane nation was settled in the fact that we beat our rivals FSU!!!! Anythime we beat FSU we salvage the season….
Fast forward to this year, the teams that we have loss to this season are turning out to be trash other than Virigina Tech and K State and those were our best effort (one play yard short in both games). Maryland’s only ACC victory is against mia. Florida State is not a good team. Virginia is not good (they beat Idaho by one point).
Dont get me wrong, I personally think Golden is the guy to right the ship. I feel that the OC is excelling in the right direction as well. But this DC needs to show me something. Because, the true reason why Shannon was let go was mainly because of Whipple’s chuck it and f’ck it program. Coach D’s 10 yard cushion/no pressure defense will not be tolerated next year.
Agreed on most points but D, Golden’s stated multiple times this is our shallowest position (Micanor was moved back to LB before FSU game) stating that even at temple or BC, the standard was 10-12 deep at the position when we’re fighting along with 5. Also, These dumb mistakes come from extended playing time for the players who would make more disciplined decisions with more limited reps. No excuses, but to re-iterate the importance of limiting snaps on smart decisions, FSU played over 50 players in their rotation opposed to UM’s 37-deep playing squad.
In your employer scenario, throw in something like several of your sales were reprimanded for harassment or embezzlement, and were placed on paid suspension, not bringing in any sales for a noticeable period.
What company would thrive in the aforementioned situation. You have to allow “the process” to work itself out. We’ve seen glimpses of the future, but there has to be depth and a weeding of the the previous culture.
… well put and interjected it as I hadn’t touched on the suspension angle properly. Great point. Thank you.
We should not judge Golden until year 3 or 4! I like him so far! Going to Penn State would be career suicide right now!!
Golden is the man, and a home run hire. Talent has not gotten us anywhere for a while now. Attention to details and small things can make talented teams exceptional. When he has kids that he brings in and know only his way of paying attention to all the little things and doing every thing the right way + talent…we will then see the success we all are waiting for. And if not, we are back at square one. But he is the best option now and i think he will prove to be one of the best hires by the time he leaves.
Its the Virginia game. Although we weren’t doing too well on the field I still had faith that things were different than the last 4 years and getting better. Until Virginia. The week of that game I knew that if AG could win that game, then we would have turned the corner because it was exactly the kind of game that Shannon’s teams would have laid an egg in. Short week, coming off a big win, against an inferior team in every respect. Exactly the kind of game that can destroy any positive momentum, not to mention any possibility of a decent season. Well, you know what happened…
Maybe I’m a cynic because I’ve managed people like AG. Charismatic, always saying the right things, has a great game plan. Its not until after they have moved on that you realize that they didn’t actually do very much.
Given our situation, I doubt we will be able to get a coach of AG’s caliber should he leave but that doesn’t hide the fact that 5-5 at this point in the season hasn’t exceeded anyone’s expectations.
Cam – Good points, but as someone who’s managed people, you have to take into consideration the job they walked into and then have to give them the proper time to change the culture.
Golden has done a lot of things right regarding working to turn things around – on the recruiting front, regarding mending fences with local coaches, getting rid of dead weight, working to reconfigure those who are still here, as well as having a game plan and agenda to right the ship.
A lot of speculation to say that we won’t realize Golden wasn’t much until after he leaves, especially only ten games into his tenure.
Everyone deserves a fair shot to get it right and ten games in is way too soon to judge or over-critique.
Glad that you could acknowledge that should Golden leave it will be tough for Miami to reel in another guy of his caliber, at least. That’s definitely something many are missing.
Haha – I tried to forget that horrible experience!!
I didn’t boo or post negative stuff online about Shannon, but I thought he should have been canned or at least on the hot seat after that first season.
Worst canes football I have ever seen was Randy’s first year with last year and Coker’s last year as close runner’s up.
Not trumpeting moral victories, but compare this year to last year, 2006, and 2007 and its clear that coaching on both sides of the ball is better now than previously. If we can have 3-4 years with no turnover at both OC and DC we may right the ship.
In hindsight, Shannon didn’t have *it” but in the same breath, once Miami hired him, he deserved a few years to turn things around. To his credit, he improved annually until 2010, where he was finally fired. You can’t go 9-4 in 2009 and then faceplant in 2010 when your heralded class of 2008 enters their junior season.
Also, it’s not “trumpeting moral victories” to admit that 2011 Miami football looks light years better than 2006-2007, despite the record. And let’s be honest, much more talent /depth on those two Miami teams, across the board, than this team. This year’s defense has more holes than Swiss cheese. Toss in the injuries and suspensions and it really is a mess over there. Honestly, retaining Brandon Harris alone might’ve had this team at 7-3 right now.
Al Golden is not an elite football coach. The columnist in Miami Herald had it right when he said Al Golden resume is incomplete. Again, Al Golden needs to show prowess in the X and O department because he has gotten outcoached in football games none more evidenct in MD, VA, and K-State. I am rooting for him, but I need more than talk. If they do not when these last two games, they will be 5-7, and that means they will going backward not forward. Yes Randy Shannon was not a good HC, but as another commenter said comparing the two is like Apple and Oranges. All Im saying if Miami wins Al Golden gets the credit, if they loose he needs to get the blame. All those coaches you mentioned improved the win/loss total in the first year, Golden hs two games to do that. Yes, if Al Golden leaves for Penn State then thank you for your time and best of luck to you. He has not brought any schematic advantages as a coach, cannot be held in the same conversation as Carroll, Stoops or Saban.
I want us to win and for us to be relevant. I am not concerned with reducing margins of defeats, but victories.